There’s no need to worry about George W. Bush sleepwalking through his entire presidency. He now senses an “awakening.� It’s not what you think, though. It’s much worse—as reported here by Peter Baker in today’s Washington Post:
Bush Tells Group He Sees A ‘Third Awakening’
President Bush said yesterday that he senses a “Third Awakening� of religious devotion in the United States that has coincided with the nation’s struggle with international terrorists, a war that he depicted as “a confrontation between good and evil.�
Bush told a group of conservative journalists that he notices more open expressions of faith among people he meets during his travels, and he suggested that might signal a broader revival similar to other religious movements in history. Bush noted that some of Abraham Lincoln’s strongest supporters were religious people “who saw life in terms of good and evil� and who believed that slavery was evil. Many of his own supporters, he said, see the current conflict in similar terms.
“A lot of people in America see this as a confrontation between good and evil, including me,� Bush said during a 1 1/2 -hour Oval Office conversation on cultural changes and a battle with terrorists that he sees lasting decades. [full text]
It is more than a little terrifying—though, sadly, not particularly surprising—to consider that a man in as powerful a position as George W. Bush views the world and the war in which he has recklessly embroiled this nation (and others) in such simplistic, black-and-white terms. It reveals a general lack of intellect and maturity. Given the forces and weapons the President has at his disposal, such narrowness of vision makes him far more dangerous than any terrorist leader. If I were Iran (or any other “rogue” nation), I would be worried.
Kmareka.com 
I hope Mr. Bush sees a real religious awakening. Wherever he shows up, everyone should get on their knees and pray and pray and pray until he leaves.
After watching the stock market for years, I’m going to offer a possibly analogous interpretation.
There was a famous BuisnessWeek cover from the late 70s which asked the question: “The End of Equities?” The point was that, when that issue came out, the stock market had been moribund for about 10 or 12 years. Of course, this issue came out just as the market was about to take off on the unprecedented 20-year bull run that culminated in the big bubble of the late 90s.
Often, the time when “everyone” is jumping on the bandwagon is the best signal that the bandwagon has just about run out of gas and is ready to crash. Perhaps it’s just so: with religion seeming to engulf all public life, that could easily be the signal that the “market” in religion is about to turn.
Or, we can hope.
Or, my other (semi-tongue-in-cheek) suggestion is that we enact a constitutional amendment to establish a national religion. That’s what the Europeans did, several centuries ago. They’re pretty much over it now. I think Ted Kennedy should make the proposal on the floor of the Senate. Think about it.
I’ve been hearing the code words that he throws out to the religious right in his speeches for years. Not only that, but the people in his administration who he allows to express relious bigotry without anything but a token disclaimer. His base knows where he stands. The rest of us had better learn the catechism, because he usually is not as overt as he was in the Washington Post.